ITV director of television Peter Fincham has said ITV1 must broaden its factual output to boost ratings, suggesting that natural history could make a return to the channel.
ITV1 - previously ITV - has not had a major natural history show since Survival was axed in the early 1990s.
Since then, BBC1 has had a virtual monopoly on the genre and has had huge success with shows such as the Blue Planet and Life in the Undergrowth.
But Fincham suggested today that the genre could make a return to ITV1 as he attempts to broaden the number of factual subjects on the channel.
"We are not in natural history, but we may need to broaden the sorts of genres of factual we are in," he said.
"We need to make sure that we cover a range of bases in factual. We should look at the areas we don't cover at the moment."
Fincham added that his main focus was ITV1's 9pm slot, which has been hit by poor ratings for shows such as The Palace and Harley Street.
He said he wanted each show in the slot to hit 5 million viewers, adding that no decision had yet been made on whether Harley Street would return for a second series - even though the show has slipped well below that rating target.
"Harley Street is still running," he said. "There is absolutely no decision on that. We will look at it when we get to the end of the run."
